New Story.

This story was inspired by an article I read online about a supposedly haunted doll at the Quesnel Museum in BC. The story of Mandy the doll on their site is quite eerie, but rather interesting too. I was talking to a friend yesterday about who or what could be making the doll move, and she suggested I write a fictional story about who could be possessing her and why. So, below is my effort. As usual, I’ll post the picture, and then the story. Any comment you have are always gratefully received.

Mandy.

The hysterical woman was helped out of the museum supported by her Husband, who was furious with the Museum staff.
“I don’t know who you think you are having a thing like that in the museum!” he yelled
“Scaring my poor wife half to death. You claim that doll is haunted, but I know what you’re up to. I know you have it wired up electronically or whatever to make its head move and I think it’s disgusting that you’d pull a prank like that!”
The Quesnel Museum Manager was clearly flustered
“Sir, I can assure you—”
“Save it!” snapped the man, as he gently helped his wife out of the door.

Ellie watched as the man helped his trembling pale wife into the car and tore out of the parking lot. Julie, the manager turned to Ellie and snapped
“What the hell happened in there?”
“I was over the other side of the room talking to an elderly couple. All of a sudden there was a loud scream and the lady collapsed in front of Mandy’s case visibly terrified and crying. The man yelled Jesus Christ and as I rushed over to help, he started ranting about the doll saying that … well, you know what he said.” replied Ellie.
Julie sighed.
“I have no idea what to do about that Doll. She’s been well publicized and people travel from all over Canada and even the world to come and see her. Yet when people think they see something, they get scared and claim that we’ve got her wired up to move.”
Ellie knew where Julie was coming from. Mandy had indeed been the blame for many strange incidents at the Museum.

When Mandy arrived at the Museum in 1991, she was in sorry shape. Her body was ripped, her clothes were dirty and she had cracks in her head. She was over 90 years old. Before they found a permanent home for her in the Museum, she sat facing the public entranceway. Now however, she had her own glass case, as it had been rumored that if she was placed with other dolls, she would harm them. Many visitors had spoken out about incidents with Mandy. Some said they saw her eyes follow them around the room, whilst others said they’d seen her eyes blink. Ellie herself had never seen Mandy move or anything, but there had been incidents of footsteps when nobody was around. Things would go missing, some would turn up in a different place, whilst others were lost forever. Julie headed back into her office muttering to herself that “something has to be done, this can’t continue.” As Julie’s office door shut, Ellie sighed deeply, and headed back into the room where Mandy resided.

Over the next few days, life continued as normal. Visitors came and gawked at Mandy in her case, then went away babbling excitedly to each other about that “Evil Doll.” Four days after the incident Julie called Ellie into her office. As Ellie sat down Julie said
“Do you have any ideas on what we can do about Mandy to try and quell the rumors that she’s wired up to move?”
“I guess we could take her out of her case.” said Ellie.
“That won’t work, people will just say that we unwired her. Or worse still, she could be stolen” replied Julie.
“Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything, but leave it with me, and I’ll get back to you” said Ellie.

Later that afternoon, she had a stroke of brilliance. She had been talking to a young couple stood in front of Mandy’s case. The man had been most interested in Mandy, but the lady just gazed at Mandy almost absentmindedly. All of a sudden the lady interrupted the conversation and said
“This Doll was named by the young girl who owned her 93 years ago.”
Both the young lady’s husband and Ellie turned to stare at her.
“Excuse me?” replied Ellie, a little confused.
The lady repeated herself, and Ellie gaped at her.
“How do you know that Miss?” she asked.
The lady shrugged
“I don’t know really. It just came to me now. Sometimes we can be places and I seem to have a voice inside my head telling me about certain people or a certain place at that location. Every time we’ve checked it out, my information has turned out to be right.”
Her husband nodded
“That’s true, I said she should train to be a medium or a psychic, she definitely has the gift.” He smiled down at his wife, but Ellie barely noticed. She was thinking of Julie’s words earlier
” Do you have any ideas on what we can do about Mandy to try and quell the rumours that she’s wired up to move?” she’d asked.

Ellie thought she suddenly had the answer.

She didn’t have a chance to talk to Julie till the Museum closed for the day. They had had a last rush of Visitors and Ellie had been kept busy answering their questions and directing them to various rooms. Finally, she guided the last few tourists out and locked the door. Then she went and knocked on Julie’s office door.

“Say what??” Asked Julie looking a little confused.
“A medium … a psychic medium.” replied Ellie
“They could come in and see if something is posessing Mandy, and we could put the results on a card in front of Mandy’s case or something.” She finished.
Julie looked a little unsure but didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure she believed in all of that stuff, but something was definitely going on with that doll, and it needed to be sorted out.
“What do we have to lose?” pressed Ellie.

Later that night, Ellie was sat in front of the Computer at home when her husband Leon walked in from work.
“Hi honey, Your dinner is almost ready.” She said rising from the desk and walking into the kitchen. As she passed, Leon glanced at the computer screen. Ellie’s email account was open and she appeared to be halfway through writing an email. This in itself was strange, Ellie rarely wrote emails. Walking over, he read what she’d written on the screen.
“Hi Marianne,
My name is Ellie. I work at the Quesnel Museum in British Columbia, and we have a case that we think you might be very interested in.”
Leon frowned slightly.

A week later, after continued correspondence between Ellie, Julie and Marianne, Marianne arrived at Quesnel Museum at 6pm sharp, after the visitors had left for the day. She’d been very intrigued by Ellie’s original email, and after corresponding via email and phone, she made the decision to come and investigate the Museum. It was the first time she’d ever investigated anything like this, and she was filled with trepidation and excitement. Ellie met her at the door and introduced herself, before leading the way into Julie’s office. Julie introduced herself and as the women sat down Marianne felt the need to explain that she’d never done anything like this before.
“I understand, and of course, I’m very glad that you decided to come. Mandy is an unusual doll, and there have been rather a lot of incidents since she arrived here at the museum some years ago.” replied Julie.
“The horrific incident last week really sealed my mind that we should try and do something about this. At first we thought about having the results posted on a board outside Mandy’s case, but then realized that it would all depend on the outcome of tonight’s investigation.” She added.
“Yes quite … what is it exactly that you’re looking for from tonights investigation?” asked Marianne.
Julie looked to Ellie who said
“Really we’re looking for any information at all about who or what might be causing Mandy to do things such as turn her head, blink at people, or follow them around the room with her eyes. We don’t know much about her, or who originally owned her, so of course any information there would be helpful.”
“Okay, that seems fine.” replied Marianne.
“If you have no other questions, I would very much like to meet this Doll.” She finished.
Ellie and Julie said they had no further questions, so the three women got up and walked out of the office, in the direction of the room where Mandy resided.

As Ellie, Julie and Marianne approached Mandy’s case, Marianne let out a slight gasp.
“Oh my, but you’re beautiful.”
Ellie and Julie looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. This wasn’t the usual reaction they had to Mandy.
“Oh I’m sorry.” Marianne excused herself.
“I wasn’t talking about the doll.”
Ellie and Julie stared dumbfounded
“There’s a beautiful little blonde girl sat to the left side of Mandy’s case, smiling at us all.”
Ellie and Julie’s jaws dropped open.

A cold breeze rustled through the room and Ellie and Julie shivered slightly. They’d taken a seat on some chairs whilst Marianne examined Mandy through her glass case. As the breeze rustled through the room, Marianne turned and then smiled unexpectedly a little to the left of them. Turning to Ellie and Julie she said
“I think we’ve found who’s been making Mandy move.”
Ellie and Julie looked in the direction that Marianne indicated but saw nothing.
“Who is it?” whispered Ellie.
“A little boy who goes by the name of William. The little girl tells me she’s called Victoria” replied Marianne.
“That’s her name?” asked Julie, also in a whisper.
Marianne smiled and nodded.
“Do you have any questions for either of them?” she asked.
Ellie’s head was swimming, and considering the dazed look on Julie’s face, hers was too. At last Ellie asked
“Why are they here?”
Marianne didn’t reply for a few minutes. She nodded her head once or twice, and then finally, she began to explain.

“Victoria’s mother bought her the doll in the case for her birthday 93 years ago. She had just turned eight. Her brother, William hated the doll on sight, and played many pranks on her with the doll. He’d hide it and then pretend he didn’t know where it was. When Victoria went running to their Mother, he would quickly run and get it, and put it back somewhere in clear view so he wouldn’t get into trouble. Victoria used to get very upset with him for doing this. One day, she decided to play with one of his wooden trains. Unfortunately she tripped and fell, landing on the train and broke it. Rather than hide it, she owned up to it at once, but William was furious. He ran upstairs and grabbed hold of Mandy and smashed her face into the floor. That’s where her crack came from. Victoria was inconsolable. She loved that doll so much and now her brother had broken her, she didn’t look pretty anymore.”

“Not long after this, Victoria came home from school saying she didn’t feel too well. Her mother put her into bed and called the Doctor out. The Dcotor’s prognosis was that Victoria had contracted influenza. However, Victoria died less than a week later. William was lost after Victoria died. Despite their many squabbles, he loved Victoria and was fiercely protective of her. He took her doll and kept it hidden in his room. Less than 2 months later, William began to complain of the same symptoms of feeling unwell that Victoria had. After being put to bed by his mother and having the Doctor out again, the Doctor once again said that William had contracted Influenza. As before with Victoria, William also died.”
Marianne paused here and Ellie and Julie both realized they had tears streaming down their faces. Hastily wiping them away Julie managed to ask
“How did they really die, what was wrong with them?”
Marianne replied almost at once.
“Diphtheria, a young friend of Victoria’s at school caught it, and passed it along before anyone knew she was ill.”
“Do they know what happened to Mandy after they both died?” asked Ellie
“Yes, the family moved away, and the doll was never found when their home was packed up. The house was left deserted for many years, until 1978 when the home and surrounding land was purchased by a private company looking to turn it into an Elderly Person’s home. When they went inside and looked around, they found the doll in the attic under a clear inch of dust. One of the owners took her home to his wife who tried her best to clean her up. That same man’s wife donated Mandy to you at the museum in 1991.”

Ellie and Julie gasped.
“You mean, the lady who told us that she kept hearing a baby crying in her basement at night?”
“That’s the one.” replied Marianne smiling now.
“And I believe if you asked her now, she’d tell you that she never hears that baby anymore.”
Julie uttered a single word
“Wow.”
“The children are here because of the Doll. They don’t mean any harm. William has been making Mandy move more out of mischief than anything. It makes them laugh when people see Mandy move. They ask that you let Mandy stay here.”
“Well, we didn’t really want to get rid of her anyway, we just wanted to try and find out who was making her move, or if people were just imagining things. Ellie and myself have never personally seen her move or felt like her eyes were following us or anything, although things have gone missing whilst Mandy has been here. We put it down to the staff just being absentminded. But of course Mandy can stay. She has a home here for as long as the children are happy with her being here.” said Julie
“In that case, I think my work here is done” replied Marianne.

Ellie and Julie stood up, stretching. Ellie realized to her shock that they’d been sat there for over two hours. The time had flown. Julie went ahead to show Marianne out. Ellie stopped by Mandy’s case and stared at her. Her jaw dropped open as Mandy slowly dropped one eyelid and winked cheekily at her. Turning to walk out of the room, she was sure she heard the giggles of two children behind her as she exited.

I do hope you enjoyed this story. I had fun writing it. I’m going to take a couple of days to think about it, and then decide whether or not I should send it to the Museum in Quesnel. Jeff and myself are heading up there in eight days, and of course, it would be nice to have their view on my story. Who knows, they might already have information on Mandy that’s not posted on their website. If I do send it to them, and I get feedback from them, I’ll post their email on my other blog over at Retarded Rugrat.

Ciao.